Panel OKs 18% cut in salary for legislators

News comes with battle over budget cuts at hand

SACRAMENTO – As state lawmakers regrouped and prepared to confront another massive budget deficit compounded by Tuesday's defeat of five budget-related ballot measures, a state commission yesterday brought the fiscal crisis closer to home – lawmakers' homes.

Legislators and other elected state officials will take an 18 percent pay cut, although that may not happen until late next year at the earliest.

The California Citizens Compensation Commission, which approved the salary reduction on a 5-1 vote, plans to seek legal permission to impose the pay cuts sooner. Under current law, the reductions could not take effect during incumbents' existing terms, most of which expire in December 2010.

The commission's vote will shave rank-and-file lawmakers' salaries by more than $20,000 a year, from $116,028 to $95,143. The pay of legislative leaders will drop from $133,639 to $109,584. Tax-free per-diem payments of up to $35,000 a year would not be affected.

The state's 238,000 employees already have seen their pay cut by up to 10 percent through involuntary furlough days. About 5,000 state workers received final layoff notices last week.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who set the stage for the legislators' pay cuts a few weeks ago when he appointed two of the five commission members who voted for them, applauded the move as a timely response to Tuesday's vote.

“The people of California have spoken loud and clear: They want the state to live within its means and do not want any more government waste or pay raises for California's elected officials. I completely agree,” said Schwarzenegger, a multimillionaire who does not accept his $212,179 state salary.

The commission's move was an unexpected blow to lawmakers bracing for another arduous round of negotiations to close a $21.3 billion deficit. Most Californians will be affected through potentially deep cuts to schools, universities, health care and public safety.

Three weeks ago, the commission had deadlocked on a smaller, 10 percent pay cut, prompting Schwarzenegger to fill vacancies on the panel.

“We of course will respect and abide by the decision of the California Citizens Compensation Commission,” Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said in a statement. “At the same time, I will always stand by the hard work and sacrifice of my legislative colleagues.”

“The senator feels the same as other Californians,” spokeswoman Melanie Reagan said in an e-mail. “Everybody is cutting back, and legislators should do the same.”

The commission approved the pay cuts as legislative leaders held a series of news conferences to assess Tuesday's defeat of the budget-related measures and outline their plans to deal with the latest budget shortfall.

Propositions 1A through 1F were drafted and placed on the special election ballot as central pieces of a bipartisan compromise reached in February to bridge a $42 billion deficit. The deficit quickly reopened to more than $15 billion.

All but Proposition 1F, which prohibits legislative pay raises during deficit years, were drubbed in an election with relatively few voters – 23 percent turnout, according to some estimates. The defeats added nearly $6 billion to the state's immediate financial problem and canceled $16 billion in future tax increases.